The National tribune., 1887-08-18
SUNDAY MEDITATION.
Practical Duties Taught by Study OF the Inter
national Sunday school Lesson Appointed 10
Aug. %. st. Matt, 6:1-l5.

study the paragraph from the Holy scriptures as
indicated abovel
SUBJECT: How TO PRAY. THE LORDS
PRAYER THE MODEL.
The present lesson relates mainly to the
Lords Prayer, and weshall hence give it special
study.
1. AUTHOR OF THE PRAYER.
1t is called the Lords Prayer. 1t is not his
because he used it when he prayed. He could
not offer such petition. No perfectly holy
being could use it. 1t has petitions <napplica-
BILE to him; G. O., Forgive u.s." He never
sinned. He could be our Exemplar in the acts
of prayer, but not in the items of petition. He
prayed much, but never in the words of the
Lords Prayer. 1t is the Lords (Christ's)
Prayer in the sense Of his being its Author.
The expression the " Lords Prayer " is ambigu-
Gus. One would think the meaning to be that
the Prayer is one which Christ held as his own
favOrite form of petition. The Lords Prayer
is the Lords because he taught it to his follow
ers; because he framed it, and so has ownership
of it by authorship.
st. Luke tells us III: ~ how Christ came to
give the world this form of prayer. IL is said
one of his Disciples of time spoke thus to him:
Lord, teach us to pray as John also taught his
Disciples" In response to this request our
Savior taught his followers what has siuce been
known as the Lords Prayer.
p ORIGIN OF THE PRAYER.
Whence did Christ get it? Was it original
with him2 Did he borrow it, or any portion
of it, from anybody, book, tradiGon2 We now
reach very disputed territory.
We cannot suppose that, when the Disciples
wanted Christ to furnish them a prayer, he
| picked up some prayer already in form and
| told them to adopt that outright. We think,
on the contrary, he proceeded to frame prayer
which can be said to be substantially his own
composition.
1t has been thought Christ gathered it from
the Old Testament. This is possible. We can
show how easily he could thus have collated
it. On "Our Father" see Isa., 6i:S. On
(which art in Heaven" see Fec. 5:2. On
"Hallowed be thy Name" see Ps, 10 10. On
"Thy Kingdom come" see Ps.. -: %. On
| "Thy will be done on earth as il is in Heaven"
see Ps., 40:S and 1903 20. On GIVE us this
day our daily bread" see Prov, 30:S. On
Forgive US our debts" see Ex., 81: 0. On "As
we forgive our debtors" see Lev. 10: Is. On
Lead US not into temptation" see Gen., % 1.
| On Deliver us from evil, see Ps, 80: 10. On
For thine is the Kingdom" ETC., see Ch., 20:
IL. But this is not very satisfactory account
| ing for the Prayer. In the SINE way in which
we can pick out the Lords Prayer from the
| Old Testament, taking word here and an
other there, we could collate almost any brief
| form of words from the Jewish Bible. 1t is
| possible our Savior had in mind the verses in
Il
opposite the parts of the Lords Prayer, but
only possible 1t is, however, beautiful to no.
| tice the harmony of expression which prevails
| in both Testaments.
Others have believed our Savior gathered the
/ Prayer from the Service Books used by the
Jews. The prayers they offered have been
| translated and compared with the Lords
| Prayer. There some similar expressions.
Our Savior regularly attended the synagogue
/ services aud joined in the devOtiOns. He could
| thus have collected the Prayer. The jews used
| c. O., n prayer styled the Holy Prayer" 1t
was held to be superior to any outside the Old
/ Testament. One clause in that prayer was
this, May His great Name be glorifed and
| hallowed In the world which He hath created
according to His good pleasure. May He cause
His Kingdom to have dominion during your
| life and in your days and during the life of the
whole house of Israel quickly and in the near
est time; aud say ye, Amen" We can see from
this how easily our Savior could have secured
two items of His Prayer. to wit. Hallowed be
| Thy Name" and Thy Kingdom come" The
| learned DIR. John Gregory, by an examination
| of Jewish prayer books, was able to compile the
| following prayer, which, it will be noticed, has
expressions very similar to our Lords Prayer"
aud which therefore shows Christ could have
| gathered the Prayer from such sources: "Our
| Father, which art in Heaven, be gracious unto
| us; Lord, our God, hallowed be Thy Name,
|
in Heaven above, and upon earth here below.
| Let Thy Kingdom reign over US now and for
ever. The holy men of old said remit aud for
| give unto all men whatsoever they have done
| against me, and lead Us not into temptation,
but deliver US from the evil thing. For Thine
is the Kingdom, and Thou shalt reign in glory
| forever and forevermOre."
III. w. Beecher, aluding in his "Life of
Christ" to the Lords Prayer, wrote: "Our
admiration of it is not disturbed by that criti-
csm which questions its originality and finds
1t to be made up in part, of prayers already
existing. Is the diamond less princely among
| stones because its constituents can be shown in
other combinations2 The brilliant contrast
between the inorganic elements and their erys-
talline form is sufficient answer" De Wette
remarks: 1T derogates in no way from the
/ Lords Prayer that it embOdies and expresses
devotional ideas which had been breathed into
i piOus souls by the Holy Ghost, and used by
them in prayer" The diamond is product
of carbon, black, shapeless, soily, dull. If God
were about to give the world magnificent
diamond, il would be matter of indifference
to us whether he made it from sone carbon al
ready existing or actually created it. Either
| the making it at once from carbon or the cre-
ating it would be equally miraculous to US.
| The preciousness of the gem would not be de-
| pendent on whether it were made or created.
/ SO, as to the Lords Prayer, we are not so much
1 COuCcIucu W WNcbucr ClrlSL COulplleQ
] from petitions already at hand or composed it
outright. We are interested in the facts it is
a Prayer Endorsed by Christ; ses forth as the
| Model Prayer; compiled or composed by our
| Savior; made dear by the ages, aud fragrant
| with memories OF Home and Mother. 1t must
be remembered the prayers of the Jewish ritual
and liturgy were largely the product of in
spiration. Hence, Christ in their use was but
employing his own words. The Old Testament
does not give complete history OF the Jewish
| dispensation any more than the New Testament
furnishes all the items of Christ's life and min
istry. In personal visitations, visions, and the
like God gave the world very much data not
| written in the Old Testament. Doubtless the
liturgy used by the Jews and joined in by on
Savior incorporated numerous instructions re-
| ceived from Heaven. Surely, Christ had right
to make free use of such knowledge.
But why try to show the Prayer was not
original with Christ? Do we think he could
not have composed it without help from either
the Old Testament or from the Jewish liturgy?
| Did our Savior care to be originate Is not the
matter of prayer similar in all timesf Must
not the phraseology of prayer always be after
| somewhat of the same pattern? Our Savior
| was asked for a form and he gave il. We do
not believe he was guilty of plagiarism.
3. SUGGESTIONS OF THE PRAYER
1. We call this the Lords Prayer. It Is
rather our Prayer. Out of place, for Christ, it
| is just what we need Christ has given US this
Prayer. 1t is our way to the throne of grace.